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Spatio-temporal dynamics of a pulsed microwave argon plasma: ignition and afterglow

2014; IOP Publishing; Volume: 24; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1088/0963-0252/24/1/015015

1361-6595

E. Carbone, Nader Sadeghi, E. P. G. Vos, S Simon Hübner, Eddie van Veldhuizen, Jan van Dijk, Sander Nijdam, G. M. W. Kroesen,

Atomic and Molecular Physics

In this paper, a detailed investigation of the spatio-temporal dynamics of a pulsed microwave plasma is presented. The plasma is ignited inside a dielectric tube in a repetitively pulsed regime at pressures ranging from 1 up to 100 mbar with pulse repetition frequencies from 200 Hz up to 500 kHz. Various diagnostic techniques are employed to obtain the main plasma parameters both spatially and with high temporal resolution. Thomson scattering is used to obtain the electron density and mean electron energy at fixed positions in the dielectric tube. The temporal evolution of the two resonant and two metastable argon 4s states are measured by laser diode absorption spectroscopy. Nanosecond time-resolved imaging of the discharge allows us to follow the spatio-temporal evolution of the discharge with high temporal and spatial resolution. Finally, the temporal evolution of argon 4p and higher states is measured by optical emission spectroscopy.